This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.

 

Episode 111. Season 2 The Beat.

 

Pursue Holiness. Witness His Nature.

 

Quick Take

 

Hey human, in this episode we talk about holiness, and the apostle Peter. His first recorded witness to onlookers. And how that went. We ponder His relationship with Jesus. He invites us to confirm our calling and election. And a second ponder to shorten the distance between baptizing 3,000 to finding the one.

Thanks for listening.

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Hey, human.  How has God shown up for you today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.  

Before we get into it, what did Jesus say about the pure of heart?

 

At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount he said this:

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

 

Pure is defined as “clean” and “without guilt of anything”… which brings us into God’s presence. Jesus brought a new understanding in His earthly walk. He brought matters of the heart to fulfill the matters of the law. He brought His Heavenly Father’s heart to earth. For us to see.

Pursue Holiness. 

In our Season 2 launch episode 111 we identified the question that serves as the premise for this podcast:  Whose life will be changed from your pursuit of holiness?

 

The word “holy” is used more than 900 times in the Bible. God’s holiness is referred to more than any other attribute. And if that’s not enough to pay daily allegiance to this pursuit, page 1 of my childhood hymnal was this song:  Holy, Holy, Holy. The first line being “Holy, holy, holy. Lord, God Almighty.” That’s me at age 7,8,9,10,11. Sitting on a wood pew two rows from the front singing that song from page 1.

 

To now. There’s a whole lot of holy going on in the book of Hebrews. And chapter 12 nails it, ok, better said, gives us a window to enter into all of this.

 

Hebrews 12:14

 

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

We can spend the rest of our lives studying the Bible, praying to God in thanksgiving, suffering, joy, all the ways we reach for Him. We can demonstrate our obedience to supporting and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ. While still yielding to a cautious eye and trained timing to retreat before it gets uncomfortable. Before we are called to a deeper level of holiness.

That deeper level is not about how many hours we read God’s Word, how incessantly we pray, how consistently we serve the needs of others… what I call the human gain of things. When we calculate the worth of something by how hard we strive for it. No, our pursuit needs to go beyond human gain. Beyond understanding, beyond consensus, to a place where we are a witness to it, and people “of it.”

 

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

 

The apostle Peter was on the front lines with Jesus on this earth. His testimony about who Jesus is makes him a credible witness. His letters are full with the conviction that comes from a life lived walking beside, behind and before Jesus during his ministry. In his second letter, chapter 1 Peter encourages us to go all-in to provide evidence of our calling as God’s elect.  

 

2^nd Peter 1: 3-11

 

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 

Peter tells us this:  “you may participate in the divine nature” having escaped the world. That a godly life is a way to participate in Christ. Peter goes on to define how we participate in verses 5-9:

 

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

And in verse 10-11, we hear some very good news if we make every effort to confirm our calling and election.

 

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

We will receive a rich welcome into the kingdom. I envision quite a feast with all the people I love that love God. That love Jesus. That are living empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

Our earthly confirmation is left to one premise:  how our lives are a relevant, personal witness of His nature to the people God puts in front of us. With God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, I think it’s fair to say that we worship an intentional God. When someone crosses our path, it’s not by spiritual accident.

“You Know That I Love You.”

Peter gets it. Peter died for it. But how did he get there? Hard fought. The day Jesus had the last supper with his disciples he had this conversation with Peter:

John 21:15-25

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Jesus brought it full circle with the same two words he said to Peter on the shores of Galilee. Follow me. Before he was crucified and after He was resurrected.

Jesus brought it full circle with Peter’s return to affirming love three times.

Jesus brought the rhythm of forgiveness and redemption to Peter, from a fisherman to a shepherd, from denial to defining what love looks like in action: feed His sheep. 

 

Cut to the Heart.

How did Peter confirm his calling and election that he now appeals to so many of us to do? Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, following the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down, Luke tells us that Peter addressed the crowds.

In Acts 2:14-40 he takes the crowd through how the prophecies in the book of Joel were fulfilled, he defines who Jesus is, the Messiah, and in verse 32 he says, “God has raised Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”

He goes on to describe that the crowd’s response was that “they were cut to the heart.”  This is described as poignant sorrow, pierced in the mind. And they asked Peter what to do. He told them to repent, and be baptized.

Peter embodies what being a “witness” means:  From the first boat ride with Jesus to two words from Jesus to three times a denial of Jesus to being martyred in Rome, 34 years after Jesus’ prophecy about Peter’s death in John 21:18-19.

Go back and read Acts 2:14-40 and note what Peter told the crowd. Why? Because about 3,000 were baptized that day.

There’s a lot of distance between 3,000 and going to find the one. Why would we start here? I wanted to start here because this is the expectation that keeps so many of us from understanding the power of our witness, the power of saying anything, doing anything.

The larger-than-life stature of a Peter, a Paul, a John, a Moses, Elijah, Esther, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Noah, Isaac, Nehemiah, Daniel, of so many that moved God’s story along.  Eyewitnesses who were schooled by angels, who saw burning bushes, who called upon God in the face of 850 false prophets.

Like Peter who was fierce in wanting to protect Jesus of Galilee as he made his way along so many dusty roads.

Yet Peter denied.

Yet Peter was so lovably human. Victorious in his vulnerability.

Yet Peter came to such a deep understanding of living within God’s nature.

Yet Peter lived out a prophecy made by the Savior while He was on earth.

Yet Peter gave his life for His Savior.

Not out of pride or spectacle, but because He answered to the command of Jesus: “Feed my sheep.”

Peter is a powerful, practical witness, someone who asked a lot of questions, threw his passion into the ring with wild abandon, demonstrated leadership within a circle of strong-minded disciples, and was very hard on himself. His heart had been to denial and back three times.

We find ourselves saying… oh Peter. Yet, Peter was “cut to the heart.”

 

From Cut to Confirmation.

And Peter found his way from “cut” to “confirmation.” In Acts 3:14 when Jesus healed the lame beggar, who did Peter remind the onlookers that they disowned?

14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

Why was Peter able to credibly do that? Because he saw it. And his life teaches us the power we have when we participate in the divine nature of our Savior.

Jesus redeems our hearts of daily denials, when we say “no” to sharing His presence with someone. But He asks us to do this:  Get out of the boat. Like Peter.

Episode 112, Season 2, The Beat.